In retrospect, I think my 1980's IBM old-school keyboard has a better feel, but I am very happy with my purchase overall (saving up to buy the full-size *someday* for use at home). the IBM makes a nice "ka-chink" when it's pressed and released, while the deck has a more linear feel (and is much quieter), like a commodore keyboard. but, the deck is USB, which means it only works on newer computers, and the IBM is either AT or PS2 (depending on which cord you use), which means it won't work on my laptop, which has neither. but the deck looks _so_ cool. By far, the best feature is having the plug light up. If you've ever tried to fumble around in the dark behind your case to get something plugged in, this will take care of it. wonderful blue light makes everything easy!

also, in the pictures, the color looks washed-out. in reality, it is a much richer, deeper, blue (and green)

Wow nice pictures, the dimmer one especially! I have found it very difficult to take high quality photos of Deck boards when lit up but that one looks very nice!

In regards to the interface on your Deck, you could change it to PS/2 interface by simply soldering in a resistor and flipping the cable inside the housing (the resistor is located on the top left section of the board when removed from the housing; the resistor is A 10K ohm 1/4W 5% thru-hole style resistor) so if you wanted to hook it up to your old school rig it is possible.

Wow nice pictures, the dimmer one especially! I have found it very difficult to take high quality photos of Deck boards when lit up but that one looks very nice!

feel free to use those for whatever you may need. I had to play around with the camera settings a bit, to get them so underexposed that the color wouldn't be washed out.

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so if you wanted to hook it up to your old school rig it is possible.

isn't there some concern over the amount of power going over the ps/2 bus? the issue wasn't having usb on my workstation (which it does), the issue was having ps/2 on my laptop (oh, well. at least it has PCMCIA which more modern machines are *sorely* lacking)

Huh? I would not describe this keyboard as quiet. I wonder if mine is missing some kind of sound deadening material from the manufacturing process. I would never describe this as a "quiet" keyboard at all. It clatters loudly, even when trying to press lightly.

the IBM is either AT or PS2 (depending on which cord you use), which means it won't work on my laptop, which has neither. but the deck looks _so_ cool. By far, the best feature is having the plug light up. If you've ever tried to fumble around in the dark behind your case to get something plugged in, this will take care of it. wonderful blue light makes everything easy!ESky Lama V5